1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicle washing, and more particularly to a powered rotating array of fabric strips hanging from an overhead structure and operating to scrub the surface of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The closest prior art known to us is an apparatus marketed by the owner of this application under the mark Roto-Flex. In that apparatus, a fixed overhead frame supported a first vertical shaft at the center of the frame and above the center of the path of a vehicle (typically an automobile) through the apparatus. A horizontally extending arm affixed to the lower end of the first shaft supported a second vertical shaft which was rotatable in the arm. A sprocket was mounted to the upper end of the second shaft, and a horizontally extending circular frame was mounted to the lower end of that shaft, the diameter of the circular frame being approximately the diameter of the widest vehicle to be scrubbed. An array of fabric strips was hung from the circular frame and extended down to a level near the floor of the carwash installation. A second sprocket was affixed to the overhead frame concentric with the first shaft.
A chain extended around both sprockets. A drive motor was secured to the overhead frame and coupled by belt drive to the first mentioned shaft. This motor rotated the first shaft and thus rotated the arm about the first shaft axis. Although the sprocket at the end of the second shaft was free to rotate in its bearing in the arm, the other sprocket secured to the frame was fixed. Consequently, as the motor rotated the arm, the chain drive caused the circular frame to rotate relative to the arm in the opposite direction. The result was a movement of the circular frame in a circular path about the first shaft axis, and rotation of the circular frame and fabric strips about the second shaft in the opposite direction. This resulted in cleaning front and rear contours of the vehicle as well as windows and upper horizontal surfaces, by the hanging strips.
While the above described system performed very effectively, vertical scrubbing action other than that accidentally achieved due to movement of the fabric strips over the various contours of the vehicle, was desired. The present invention is directed to that objective.